Lyonsdale Biomass to be Dismantled; Lewis County IDA to Acquire Title

Lyonsdale, NY – The Lyonsdale Biomass energy facility at 3823 Marmon Road in Lyonsdale will be dismantled this summer and the vacant 46-acre property will be transferred to the Lewis County Industrial Development Agency under the terms of an agreement recently executed by the two parties.

“We believe this property can be an effective asset for future economic development in Lewis County. Prospective developers, potentially in the forestry or energy production industries, will find this property attractive for business growth,” said Eric Virkler, executive director of the Lewis County Industrial Development Agency.

Under the terms of the agreement, ReEnergy will continue to work with the Lewis County IDA to market the site and share prospect leads. Because the facility’s future as a biomass power facility was uncertain under New York State’s Clean Energy Standard, ReEnergy had been working with local and state economic development officials and prospective redevelopers to repurpose the site.

“There are multiple parties who have shown an interest in developing the site, and the interconnection to the electricity grid makes the site of interest to solar developers,” said ReEnergy Chief Executive Officer Larry D. Richardson. “We also have been in talks with biofuel companies that are interested in siting a biorefinery in New York State.”

Richardson said that ReEnergy had retained a company to dismantle the energy facility, but that the fuel yard infrastructure and utility interconnection will remain in place per the agreement with the IDA. Demolition work is expected to begin in early July and be completed in early fall, at which time title to the site will be transferred to the Lewis County IDA.

The 22-megawatt biomass-to-electricity energy facility had used biomass material from logging operations and local sawmills to produce an average of 162,000 MWh of electricity per year, enough to supply approximately 21,000 homes. The facility also had supplied process steam to the adjacent Twin Rivers paper mill when requested and its ash by-product was used by local farmers as fertilizer. The facility, which began commercial operations in 1992, supported an estimated 100+ direct and indirect jobs, spent approximately $6.6 million annually in biomass fuel from local loggers, and had an estimated annual economic impact of more than $20 million, ceased operations in December 2017 due to the expiration of its contract to sell renewable energy certificates (RECs) to the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA).